North Point Mall

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

North Point Mall, located in Alpharetta, Georgia (a suburb of Atlanta), opened in 1993 as one of the largest shopping malls in the country. The mall originally opened with five total anchors, the most ever built on one mall in Georgia at that time, with a pad for a sixth anchor. The original anchors of the mall were Rich's, Lord & Taylor, Mervyn's, JCPenney, and Sears. It was originally believed that Macy's would be the sixth anchor, but the R.H. Macy Co. was bankrupt that year and sold out to Federated Department Stores, which owned Rich's, a year later. This eliminated any possibility of the mall having both Rich's and Macy's as anchors. One of the distinct elements of the mall was the Rich's store, which was designed with numerous distinctive historical elements and a more elaborate design to pay tribute to the lost flagship store in downtown Atlanta, which had closed only two years earlier.

The mall opened in the fall of 1993 to accommodate the exploding population in Roswell and Alpharetta, and the center became an integral force in the change of North Fulton County from a bucolic, rural area to a fast-paced, upscale suburb of Atlanta. The mall attracted many restaurants, stores, and businesses to the surrounding area, and now the formerly quiet two-lane roads and fields around the mall have become major arteries lined with every type of restaurant imaginable, booming businesses, and subdivisions full of upscale homes.^{[citation needed]}

Change happened quickly within the mall as well: Mervyn's vacated in 1995 and Dillard's filled the sixth pad on the east side of the mall the following year. A large parking deck was also constructed next to Dillard's. Though JCPenney converted most of the former Mervyn's locations, they already had a location at the mall. Instead, Parisian took the spot, making the mall more upscale in the process. In 2005, Lord & Taylor closed its 115,000 sq. ft. store at the mall leaving a vacant anchor. 2005 was a year of more change for North Point Mall, as Rich's was converted to Macy's. Though this conversion necessitated the destruction of the elaborate Rich's sign engraved into the building, the other historic Rich's features remain. Parisian will also soon turn into Belk, as the latter has bought the former's stores in Metro Atlanta. During its thirteen-year existence, the mall - originally a Homart Property - has also changed ownership several times and is currently managed by General Growth Properties, setting it apart from the many Simon Malls that proliferate in the Atlanta area. GGP is the nation's second-largest Real Estate Investment Trust and owns several other malls in Georgia, including Perimeter Mall and Cumberland Mall.^{[citation needed]}

The mall's interior was redecorated in 2003, introducing many large sitting areas full of comfortable chairs as well as a more modern, tasteful look for the mall's many kiosks. The last major renovation occurred in the fall of 2004, when an entire escalator was uprooted from East Court (Starbucks) and moved toward Sears to attract more customers into the Sears wing of the mall.

North Point Mall continues to serve one of the most affluent parts of metropolitan Atlanta, and thus continues to remain successful despite competition from the newer and bigger Mall of Georgia in Buford. North Point's success can, in part, be contributed to its appealing mix of stores (including Apple Computer, J. Crew, Gap, Pottery Barn, Coach, Teavana, Abercrombie & Fitch, Ann Taylor, Starbucks, and Victoria's Secret, to name just a few of the nearly 200), and to the friendly and hospitable environment cultivated by its customer service, security, and maintenance staffs.^{[citation needed]}

In addition to its upscale consumer base, North Point Mall caters to families with children. The extensive selection of children's stores includes Janie & Jack, abercrombie, Gymboree, The Disney Store, Stride Rite, The Children's Place, and Build-a-Bear Workshop. A soft indoor playground occupies the entire West Court between Dillard's and Parisian, allowing weary parents a chance to rest their feet while kids happily climb and jump on the padded playground equipment. North Point Mall also offers morning exercise classes called "Stroller Strides" for mothers and their children.

Although the mall no longer has any sit-down restaurants inside, the California Pizza Kitchen in the parking lot continues to attract lots of hungry shoppers, and, to the delight of the Alparetta area, The Cheesecake Factory opened its third restaurant in Georgia (and first outside of Atlanta) at North Point Mall in 2004. A large celebration marked the ribbon-cutting events in June of 2004, and two years later, the restaurant is still luring many North Point customers through the "Yellow Brick Road" in the parking deck that marks the route from the mall's Center Court. Dozens of other restaurants can be found on North Point Parkway and Mansell Road, just a short walk from the mall.

While North Point Mall is known as a major upscale retail center throughout Georgia and parts of the Southeast, it is perhaps most famous for the gorgeous carousel that sits behind an enormous floor-to-ceiling window in the Food Court. Crafted in Brooklyn, New York by the Fabricon Carousel Company, the carousel's beautifully hand-painted fiberglass animals were designed from the casts of vintage Victorian Coney Island carousel. In addition to the usual horses, North Point's carousel includes animals such as a rabbit, a frog, a tiger, a giraffe, and even a chicken, and the carousel also features two handicapped-accessible swan chariots.

North Point Mall is also happy to offer - in addition to package check, complimentary wheelchairs and many other customer services - the popular American Express gift cards. Gift cards can be mall-specific (in any amount, with a $2.00 surcharge) or usable anywhere in the United States (in values of $25, $50, $100 or $200, with a $3.95 surcharge).

North Point's security team (Valor Security Services) monitors the entire mall - 24 hours a day, 365 days a year - through an extensive CCTV network involving nearly 70 cameras throughout the mall to ensure that shoppers have a safe, pleasant experience while on property.

[edit] Anchors & Majors

• Cheesecake Factory (10,300 sq. ft.)
• Dillard's (opened 1996; 248,151 sq. ft.)
• Express (11,651 sq. ft.)
• Gap (15,907 sq. ft.)
• JCPenney (opened 1993; 120,843 sq. ft.)
• Macy's (opened 1993 as Rich's, became Macy's 2005; 240,000 sq. ft.)
• Parisian (opened 1995 in former Mervyn's, becoming Belk in 2007; 84,407 sq. ft.)
• Pottery Barn (11,238 sq. ft.)
• Sears (opened 1993; 134,886 sq. ft.)

[edit] External links

• Official Site